Automatic welding visor shutter



Sept- 11, 1945- w. B. ZIMMERMAN ETAL 2,384,517

y AUTOMATIC WELDING VISOR SHUTTER Filed April I3 1942 "thluee etwhicl'l.. both y left free so that he is not obliged periodically tov enema Sepe 11, 1945 um AUTOMATIC WELDING VISOR BBUTTEB.

vWalter B. Zimmerman,

Joseph Chisik, Winnipeg,

William A. Martin, and

Manitoba, Canada Application April 1s. 1942, serial No. 433,100 s calms. (ci H) Our invention relates to arc welding visor shutters vcapable of being operated automatically by the passage of a current through a solenoid ad'- :lacent the shutter upon the application oi a welding electrode to a welding'table or onto a piece of work.

A further object of our invention is to provide a Adevice of the character herewithin described by handset theoperator are open his then manually close an arc.

A furtherobject of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described by the use of which a considerable saving oi' time will become possible and, as a consequence, a greater output per hour, per man will be possible.

A further object of our invention is to provide a device ofV the character herewithin described whereby the manual dexterity or ability of the operator will be materially increased by virtue of his being able to keep both handsfree for his work.

A further objectvof our invention is to provide a device or the character herewithin described by the use of which eye injuries will be avoided through the accidental exposure of the naked eye w a welding arc. I

A further object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is positive in action, of eminently simplihed construction, and which therefore cannot readily become out oi' order.

With the above more important objects in view and such other minor objects as may appear as the specification proceeds, our invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all :sts hereinafter more particularly described, reference being accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a wiring diagram of our retarding. relay, showing also a portion of a welding visor equipped with our invention and electrical means for operating the same.

Figure 2 is a plan detail of our welding electrode terminal and ground terminal.

In the drawing like characters of reference inshutter manually to view the work and it again prior to striking dicate corresponding parts in the diilerent iig- UIeS.

ter assembly in the welding hood, and (2) a relay, and proceeding to describe iirst bur shutter assembly. it will be seen that a direct current generator i conveys current through a had to the Our invention consists primarily o! (l) a shutcuit" 2 to the shutter solenoid 3 mounted on a v welding visor or hood l. Above the solenoid 3 is y 3 in which the actual glass shutter ciraccording ysist of a very our shutter collectively enumerated 5,- the same consisting of a rectangular housing l faced with transparent glass 'I and having. upon the side walls thereof a pair of parallel tracks or guides shutter l moves. consist of a piece o! glass shield the eyes of 'Welders to conventional practice or it may conthin sheet of a suillciently dark glass, or of Polaroid" nlm interposed between two sheets of mica l0 for instance as l have indicated at i I. The shutter may be framed on all sides, or may be framed on the lower side only by means of the channel l2 to which we freely secure the lever I3.

This lever of the third order is fulcrumed or pivoted at the point I4 while the eilort is applied longitudinally as indicated by the arrow II at the point I3 by means of the rod or link l1. The rod l1 extends longitudinally within the solenoid 3 and terminates in the hook or eye i3 within the core Il of the solenoid, the lower end of the rod being secured in the upper end or the core Il so that it may be moved longitudinally therewith and thereby.

A screw threaded boss 23 having a knurled nnger disc 2| is threadably secured in the base of the solenoid 3, the lower end of the core il abutting the-upper, inner end o! the boss which is drilled concentrically to receive the link 22. The link 22 is also provided, lsimilarly to the link l1, with an eye. a light coil spring 23 being interposed between the two links and connected at its ends thereto.`

The lower end of the link 22 is screw threaded to receive the knurled finger disc 24, while the link I1 extends freely and concentrically through the longitudinal drilling in' the portion 25being The shutter l may such as is employed to vsecured only within the upper end of the core I! as already described. It will therefore be obvious that the tension or downward eiort which the spring 23 exerts upon the lever i3, will depend upon the tension thereof as governed by the tlnger piece 2|. It will also be recognized that adjustment of the nger disc 2l will operate to move the end shiftable core I9 closer to or further away from the portion 25 so that the linear distance travelled by the shutter may be varied according as to whether the wearer of the hood or visor prefers a wide rectangular aperture through which to view his work when the shutter is down or a wide aperture.

Our relay is mounted upon the insulating 2 asseoir ine verdeel supper: u, the man. u being s biased by the spring 22 at one end thereof while a contact at the opposite end of the amature is capable of making contact with the buffered contact 2| when the primary solenoid 22 is energized. We describe the parts 21, 22 and 2l as l0 a circuit breaker and it will be seen that the core 22 of the primary solenoid 22 projects through an aperture in the armature 21, terminating in a screw threaded portion engaged by the nut 34 by means of which the setting or spac- 1s ing of the contacts 22 and 2| may be adjusted. The contact 2| is buii'ered by the coil spring 2l and may be supported by a yoke such as 22 wherein the spring would be positioned within the open central portion.

The solenoid 22 is mounted upon a bed plate 21, a support 22 being positioned on the plate, both plate and support are of iron or some other magnetic or current carrying material and projecting from the support 22 is our initial solenoid 25 or coil 28. Secured to the underside of the annature 21 and projecting downwardly is an angle bracket 39 to the end of which are secured two spaced leaf spring contacts 42 and 4|.

A contact breaking element 4|' may be proso vided where the leaf spring of the contact 42 is very resilient or of considerable length and may be in the form of a yoke of which the two arms would span the head of the solenoid 22.

The contacts az end n are mounted on tures plates 26 and are capable of being engaged by the contacts 40 and 4|, a pilot circuit 44 extending around the solenoid 22, through the lead 4l down to the terminal 4t and from thence through the lead 41 to the welding electrode 42.

It will be seen that the pilot circuit 44 is in series with the circuit 2. However, we also provide what we call a primary circuit 44' leading from the generator in parallel with the circuits 2 and 44 to the primary electrode 22, being 45 tapped oii at the point 42 into the welding voltage circuit 52 which extends round the upper part of the solenoid 22 and an armature closing circuit 5| which extends round the lower part of the solenoid 22 and proceeds to the contact 42. 50

It will be seen that the armature 21 is grounded by means of the lead 49 to the support 22 and the bed plate 21 from which a ground lead 50 extends to the terminal il', from which, in

turn, a negative lead 52 (Figures 1 and 2) re- 55 turns to the generator I being interrupted for safety by the fuse 52. The table 24 (or it may be a piece of work being welded) is similarly grounded to the generator by means of the lead 55 in which may Ialso be inserted a fuse if deso sired.

"immediately the operator applies the electrode 48 to the table or to a grounded piece of work, current ows through the shutter circuit 2, lifting the core I9 and closing the shutter so that 65 the operator can only view the work through the protective glass forming the same. The current also travels in series through the solenoid 22 or the pilot circuit which we have described. This energizes the solenoid 22 so that the contact 42 70 swings to the left and makes with the contact 42. Current may now travel in parallel through the primary circuit 4l', the armature closing circuit ii, through the contacts 42 and 42 and from thence to ground via the connection 42. The cirbuiiered contact 2|.

Before contact is made however between the contacta 22 and 2|. contacts 4| and 42 will engage as a result of the movement of the armature 21 so that current may now travel through the4 shunt I2 and through the contacts 42 and 4|. When such contact has been made, contacts 42 and 4I will break, it necessary, being assisted in breaking by the member 4|', the rigidity of which will torce the leaf spring 42 away from the contact 42.

Not until engagement has been eifected between the contacts 4| and 42 will the contact 42 break away from the contact 42, and so, for an inconsiderable period of time, current will be travelling in parallel through the pair of con- 2o tacts 42 and 42 as well as through the pair of contacts 42 and 4I, and during this inconsiderable period of time, the downward movement of the armature 21 will not be completed until a circuit is completed between the contacts 22 and 2|.

As soon as the welding voltagecircuit l2 is completed by the engagement of the contacts 22 and 2|, an arc will be established between the point of the electrode 42 and the work but by this time, our shutter will be well and truly closed to pro. tect the operators eyes.l It is necessary however that current shall continue to ilow through the shutter circuit 2. The same is therefore unin- The lead which carries the .welding current from the contact 2| to the electrode 42 is designated 52 and, it will be noted, extends in parallel with the lead 41 which carries the pilot circuit. However, it is not essential that two sets oi leads 40 be provided from the terminal 42 to the electrode 42, these two being shown in the accompanying Figure 1 merely for clarity.

When the aro is broken between the electrode 48 and the table 54 or a piece of grounded work, it is important that our shutter 2 shall not open until the harmful radiation from the arc is dissipated. We would therefore explain that although current ceases to travel through the pilot circuit 44 including the leads 4l and 41. immediately the electrode 42 and the table or work are separated, and although the contacts 22 and 2| commence to move apart immediately, the shutter circuit 2 is not broken immediately.

This is because thecontacts 4| and 42 will not separate and become insulated from each other by an air gap immediately the armature commences to move under the iniiuence of the spring 22 in the direction of the arrow l1, the leaf spring of the `contact 4| being designed to dwell for a short period in engagement with the contact 42 before separation takes place. Accordingly, a sap will not commence to appear between the contacts 4| and 42 until (by way of arbitrary example) one half of the maximum gap has appeared between the contacts 22 and 2|.

It follows that as long as the contacts 4| and 42 are in engagement, current to completes shut` ter circuit may be shunted through the leads l2. the contacts 42 and 4|, through the connection 42 to be grounded on the support 22. In instances where a voltage drop does not occur, we may insert a resistance It in the shunt 54, but there will notgbe many cases where the same is necessary according to our experience,

In conclusion with the embodiment of curinduring the assauv vention above described, we would explain that the solenoid I may be designed to operate on volts while the solenoid 3s might operate on s0 volts. As the solenoidsv s and Is are in series operation oi establishing welding contact, directly across the open circuit welding generator voltage of about 60 or 70 volts, quick and is assured as to the operation of these two solenoids. It will naturally be understood however that in no senseL do we intend to imply by this statement that we are coniined to solenoids or other equipment of the voltage stated.

Since various modiilcations can be made in our invention as hereinabove described and many apparenti! widely diiierent embodiments of same made within the scope of the claims without departing from such spirit yand scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying speciilcation shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not. in a. limiting sense and we desire only such limitations placed thereon as are speciiically expressed in the accompanying claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

l. In the art of electric arc welding. an automatic electrically operated visor shutter and asso;

ciated mechanism for operating said shutter.

comprising an electrically energized element adjacent said shutter and connected to a source of electromotive force capable of moving said shutter into and out oi' eye shielding position, a relay connected to'a source oi electromotive force, a welding electrode connected to said relay, a grounded welding table, current ilowing through said element to cause the closing of said shutter uponapplication ot said electrode to said table, and means in said relay for delaying the completion ota circuit of arc welding voltage until A arc welding voltage through said shutter has been moved into eye shielding v 2. In the art of electric arc welding, an automatic electrically operated .visor shutter and associated mechanism for operating said shutter, comprising an electricallyv energized element jacent said shutter and connected to a source oi electromotive torce capable of moving said shut ter into and out oi eye shielding position, a relay connected to a source of,l electromotive torce and, including an initial solenoid and a primary solenoid, said element being in series with said initial solenoid, a welding electrode connected to said relay, a grounded welding table, current nowing through said element to cause the closing oi said shutter upon application oi said electrode to said table and means in said'relay including said. initial solenoid for delaying the completion lof a circuit of arc welding voltage until said shutter has been moved into eye shielding position. 3. In the art oi arc welding, an automatic electrically operated visor shutter and mechanism ior operatingsaid shutter comprising an electrically energized element adjacent said .a shutter solenoid connected "solenoid,

lshutter and connected to a source ot electromotive force capable of moving said shutter into and out of eye shielding position, a--relay to a source oi electromotive iorcasaid relay including at least a primary solenoid, said element being vin parallel with said primary solenoid, a welding electrode connected to said relay, a grounded lwelding table, current nowing through said element to cause the closing o! said shutter upon application o! said electrode to saidtable and means in said relay for delaying the passage of current ot arc welding voltage through said primary solenoid until said shutter has been moved into eye shielding position.

4. In the art of arc welding, a visor shutter, to said shutter and capable-of moving the same upon the passage of current therethrough, said shutter being movable between eye shielding and eye exposing positions, a relay connected to a source of electromotive force, said relay comprising an initial solenoid, a primary solenoid, an armature and contacts, at least one contact capable of being moved by said initial solenoid, a welding electrode` connected to said relay, a grounded welding table. current flowing cause the closing of said shutter upon applicati'on of said electrode to .said table, andv also through said initial solenoid to act upon one of said contacts and delay a passage of current of said primary solenoid until said shutter has been moved into eye shielding position.

5. In the art of arc welding, a visor shutter, a shutter solenoid connected to said shutter, said solenoid being connected to -a source -of electromotive torce and being capable o! moving the shutter upon the passage of ing and eye exposing positions, a relay also connected to said source o! electromotive force, said relay rnprising an initial solenoid, a primary attire and contactant least one contact capable o! being moved byu said vinitial solenoid, said initial and shutter solenoids -being connected in series with respect to said source of electromotive force, said shutter and primary solenoids being connected in parallel with respect to said source of electromotive force, a welding electrode connected to said relay, a grounded welding table, current ilowing through said shutter solenoid to cause the closing of said shutter upon application of said electrode to said table and also through said initial solenoid to act upon one ot said contacts and delay a passage oi current of arc welding voltage through said primary eye shielding position.

through said shutter solenoid to current therethrough, said shutter being movable `betvveen'eye'shield- 

